Bundesliga TV bid war?
February 6, 2012
Deutsche Telekom will bid on its own for exclusive satellite and cable rights to show Germany’s Bundesliga football matches live, according to Der Spiegel, opening a possible bidding war with Sky Deutschland.
Should Telekom win the rights, which are estimated to be worth about €295 million a year. The Deutsche Fussball Liga, or DFL, is set to announce on Thursday how it will carve up the rights packages for four seasons starting with 2013/14, during the upcoming auction.
Pay-TV broadcaster Sky Deutschland currently has three million subscribers, and is determined to hold on to the DTH exclusive live satellite rights. DT holds the IPTV rights and may well sell on any cable rights it wins. Telekom’s head of Germany, Niek Jan van Damme told a German newspaper in December that he was considering bidding for the satellite rights as well, since about 115,000 customers that get Telekom’s Entertain TV over satellite cannot see games live.
Vodafone, the second-largest phone company in Germany after Deutsche Telekom, is also mulling a bid for Bundesliga soccer games on its own or with a partner, according to Reuters.